Chapter One
Premiere Pro Basics
IN THIS CHAPTER
Premiere Pro''s panels
Premiere Pro''s menus
The Adobe Premiere Pro user interface is a combination of a video-editing studio and an electronic image-editing studio. If you''re familiar with film, video editing, or audio editing, you should feel right at home working within Premiere Pro''s Project, Monitor, and Audio windows. If you have worked with such programs as Adobe After Effects, Macromedia Flash, or Macromedia Director, then Premiere Pro''s Timeline, digital tools, and panels should also be familiar to you. If you''re completely new to video editing and computers, don''t worry; Premiere Pro panels, windows, and menus are efficiently designed to get you up and running quickly.
To help get you started, this chapter provides an overview of Premiere Pro windows and menus. Consider it a thorough introduction to the program''s workspace and a handy reference for planning and producing your own digital video productions.
Premiere Pro''s Panels
After you first launch Premiere Pro, several panels automatically appear onscreen, each vying for your attention. Why do you need more than one panel opened at once? A video production is a multifaceted undertaking. In one production, you may need to capture video, edit video, and create titles, transitions, and special effects. Premiere Pro windows help keep these tasks separated and organized for you.
You can access any Premiere Pro panel by clicking its name in the Windows menu. For example, if you want to open the Timeline, Monitor, Audio Mixer, History, Info, or Tools panel, you can choose the Window menu and then click the desired panel name. If the panel is already open, a check box appears by its name. If the panel isn''t open, it opens in a window when you choose it in the Windows menu. If you have more than one video sequence on the screen, you see them listed in the Window -> Timelines submenu.
This section provides an overview of the panels that enable you to create the various elements of your digital video project.
Manipulating Premiere Pro panels
You can work more efficiently if you know how to group and dock Premiere Pro''s panels. Grouping and docking panels helps to ensure that you''re making the best use of available screen real estate.
All of Premiere Pro''s video-editing tools reside in panels that you can group or dock together in virtually any combination. When panels are docked, they are attached to each other, so resizing one panel resizes another. Figure 1.1 shows the Program Monitor being resized. Notice in the second frame of Figure 1.1 that enlarging the Program Monitor reduces the size of the Source Monitor panel.
ON the DVD
The images in Figure 1.1 are from the Premiere Pro CS3 QuickStart chapter. The Clock image (bc0104.mov) is in the FilmDisc folder. The Airport image (BG113.mov) is in the Artbeats folder.
Figure 1.1 shows the Project panel grouped with the Effects and Audio Mixer tabs peeking out from behind in the same panel group. You can easily add or remove a panel from a group by clicking the indented dots at the left-hand corners of the tabs and dragging the panel tab.
If you want a panel to appear as a standard window that floats above other panels, you can drag the panel out from behind the others. As you read through the following sections that explain how to resize, group, and separate panels, try adjusting a few panels.
Resizing docked panels
Windows that are grouped together are referred to as panels. To resize a panel, move the cursor over the dividing line between panels. When the cursor changes to two arrows, as shown in Figure 1.1, you can drag left or right on the vertical border between panels, or up and down on the horizontal border between panels. If you want to resize the panel both horizontally and vertically, position the mouse cursor over a panel corner. When the mouse pointer changes to four arrows, click and drag the corner.
Docking and grouping panels
If you want to dock one panel with another one (the target panel), click and drag it over to the top, bottom, left, or right portion of the target panel. Before releasing the mouse, wait for the dim preview of the docked panel to appear. If you are satisfied with the results, release the mouse; otherwise, press Esc.
If you want to place one panel into another panel - or group the panels - click and drag the panel''s tab. Drag it into the target panel, and then release the mouse. The panel''s tab now appears on the far right of all existing tabs.
Creating floating windows
To separate a panel so that it floats on the screen independently like a standard window, choose Undock panel in the panel''s menu. Alternatively, press Ctrl/[??] while clicking the panel''s tab. Release the mouse to create the new floating window, and then release Ctrl/[??]. Alternatively, you can click and drag the panel outside of Premiere Pro - provided you have the screen space. Once you create a new floating window, you can create a panel group by clicking and dragging other panels to it.
Closing and saving workspaces
Premiere Pro''s primary panels sometimes open automatically onscreen. If you want to close one of them, simply click its Close window (X) icon.
If you have organized your windows and panels in specific positions at specific sizes, you can save this configuration by choosing Window -> Workspace -> New Workspace. After you name your workspace and save it, the name of the workspace appears in the Window -> Workspace submenu. Whenever you want to use that workspace, simply click its name.
The Project panel
If you''ve ever worked on a project with many video and audio clips as well as other production elements, you can appreciate Premiere Pro''s Project panel, shown in Figure 1.2. The Project panel provides an overview of your production elements (often called assets), and even enables you to preview a clip by clicking its Play button.
As you work, Premiere Pro automatically loads items into the Project panel. When you import a file, the video and audio clips are automatically loaded into the Project panel. If you import a folder of clips, Premiere Pro creates a new bin (or folder) for the clips, using the folder name as the bin name. When you capture sound or video, you can quickly add the captured media to a Project panel bin before closing the clip. Later, you can create your own bins by clicking the Bin button, at which point you can drag production elements from one bin to another.
The New Item button (shown in Figure 1.2) enables you to quickly create a new title or other production element, such as a transparent video clip (often used with Premiere Pro''s Timecode video effect to overlay timecode over other clips), color matte (covered in Chapter 15), or bars and tone (used to calibrate color and sound when editing). The New Item button also allows you to add new sequences, offline files, black video, and universal counting leaders. If you click the Icon button, all production elements appear as icons onscreen rather than in list format. Clicking the List button returns the display of the Project panel to List view. If you want to quickly add Project panel elements to the Timeline, you can simply select them and then click the Automate to Sequence button.
If you expand the Project panel by clicking and dragging the panel border, you see that Premiere Pro lists the start and stop times as well as the in and out points and the duration of each clip. If you click the Project panel''s menu, you can choose to add or remove columns from the Project panel. You can also rearrange the column order by dragging them.
In the Project panel, production assets are grouped according to the current sort order. You can change the order of production elements so that they are arranged by any of the column headings. To sort by one of the column categories, simply click the category. The first time you click it, production items are sorted in ascending order. To sort in descending order, click the column heading again. The sort order is represented by a small triangle. When the arrow points up, the sort order is ascending. When it points down, the sort order is descending.
TIP
To find a production item in the Project panel, simply click in the Project panel''s Find field and type what you''re looking for. Next, choose the category that you are searching for (such as Name, Scene, Shot/Take) in the In drop-down menu. After the item or items are found, you can return the Project panel view back to normal by clicking the X that appears in the Find field.
TIP
To play a clip in the thumbnail monitor in the Project panel, click the clip and then click the Play button - the small triangle next to the thumbnail monitor.
To preserve space and hide the Project window''s thumbnail monitor, choose View -> Preview Area in the Project Panel Menu. This toggles the monitor display off and on.
To keep your production assets well organized, you can create bins to store similar elements. For example, you can create a bin for all sound files or a bin for all interview clips. If the bin gets full, you can see more elements at one time by switching from the default Thumbnail view to List view, which lists each item but doesn''t show a thumbnail image.
Using FlexBins
If you create several bins, you can easily manage them by using Premiere Pro''s FlexBin feature. This allows you to open up different bins in separate windows, or as tabs. To open a bin as a separate window, simply double-click it. Once the bin opens in a separate window, it can function like any other panel. This means you can dock it or embed it within other panel groups. To change the default preferences for how flex bins open, choose Edit -> Preferences -> General. On a Mac, choose Premiere Pro -> Preferences -> General.
If you don''t want to change preferences for FlexBin operations, you can use the following keyboard commands to open up bins:
* Ctrl/[??]+Double-click: Opens the bin in the project panel, with no other bins displayed. (To close the bin click the tiny folder icon beneath thumbnail monitor display in the Project panel.)
* Alt/Option+Double-click: Creates a tab for the bin in the parent bin. Clicking the tab displays the contents of the child bin.
TIP
You can change the speed and duration of a clip by right-clicking the clip in the Project panel and choosing Speed/Duration. You can also quickly place the clip in the Source Monitor by right-clicking the clip and choosing Open in Source Monitor.
The Timeline panel
The Timeline panel, shown in Figure 1.3, is the foundation of your video production. It provides a graphic and temporal overview of the video sequences, effects, titles, and transitions that comprise your project. The Timeline is not just for viewing - it is also interactive. Using your mouse, you can build your production by dragging video and audio clips, graphics, and titles from the Project panel to the Timeline. By clicking and dragging the current-time indicator (the blue triangle), you can jump to any part of your production. As you click and drag, the time display at the top-left corner of the Timeline indicates the position of the current frame.
Using Premiere Pro tools, you can arrange, cut, and extend clips. By clicking and dragging the work area markers at either end of the work area bar - edges of the light-gray bar at the top of the Timeline - you can specify the portion of the Timeline that Premiere Pro previews or exports. The thin, colored bar beneath the work area bar indicates whether a preview file for the project exists. A red bar indicates no preview, and a green bar indicates that a video preview has been created. If an audio preview exists, a thinner, light-green bar appears. (To create the Preview file, choose Sequence Render Work Area or press Enter to render the work area.)
TIP
Rendering the work area helps ensure that your project plays back at the project frame rate. If you create video and audio effects, the Preview file stores the rendered effects. Thus, the next time you play back the effect, Premiere Pro does not have to process the effect again.
Undoubtedly, the most useful visual metaphor in the Timeline window is its representation of video and audio tracks as parallel bars. Premiere Pro provides multiple, parallel tracks so that you can both preview and conceptualize a production in real time. For example, parallel video and audio tracks enable you to view video as audio plays. The Timeline also includes icons for hiding or viewing tracks. Clicking the video Toggle Track Output button (Eye icon) hides a track while you preview your production; clicking it again makes the track visible. Clicking the audio Toggle Track Output button (Speaker icon) turns audio tracks on and off. Beneath the Eye icon is another icon that sets the display mode for clips in the track. Clicking the Set Display Style icon allows you to choose whether you want to see frames from the actual clip in the Timeline or only the name of the clip.
At the bottom-left corner of the window, the Time Zoom Level slider enables you to change the Timeline''s time intervals. For example, zooming out shows your project over less Timeline space, and zooming in shows your work over a greater area of the Timeline. Thus, if you are viewing frames in the Timeline, zooming in reveals more frames. You can also zoom in and out by clicking the edges of the Viewing Area bar at the top of the Timeline. To learn more about the many features of the Timeline panel, see Chapter 6.
The Monitor panels
The Monitor panels, shown in Figure 1.4, are primarily used to preview your production as you create it. When previewing your work, click the Play button to play it in the Source or Program Monitor. As you work, you can also click and drag in the tread area (serrated lines just below the clip) to jog, or slowly scroll, through your footage. Below the tread area is a triangular icon called the shuttle slider. You can click and drag the shuttle slider to jump to a specific clip area. As you click, the time display in the Monitor panel indicates your position in the clip. The Monitor panels can also be used to set in and out points. As discussed in The Premiere Pro QuickStart chapter, the in and out points determine which part of a clip appears in your project.
ON the DVD
The images in Figure 1.4 are from the SP123.mov file in the Artbeats folder on the Premiere Pro Bible CS3 DVD.
Premiere Pro provides five different monitor panels: the Source Monitor, the Program Monitor, the Trim Monitor, the Reference Monitor, and the Multi-Camera monitor. You can access the Trim, Reference, and Multi-Camera monitors from the Program Monitor''s panel menu.
Premiere Pro provides five different monitor panels: the Source Monitor, the Program Monitor, the Trim Monitor, the Reference Monitor, and the Multi-Camera monitor. You can access the Trim, Reference, and Multi-Camera monitors from the Program Monitor''s panel menu.
* Source Monitor: The Source Monitor shows source footage that has not yet been placed on the video sequence in the Timeline. You can use the Source Monitor to set in and out points of clips and then insert or overlay them into your production. The Source Monitor can also display audio waveforms of audio clips. (To display the audio waveform, set the Take Audio/Video button to audio or double-click unlinked audio. See Chapter 7 for more details.) * Program Monitor: The Program Monitor displays your video program: the clips, graphics, effects, and transitions that you have assembled in a video sequence in the Timeline window. You can also use the Lift and Extract buttons in the Program Monitor to remove footage. To play a sequence in the Program Monitor, you can either click the window''s Play button or press the Spacebar.
* Trim Monitor: The Trim Monitor allows you to precisely fine-tune edits. You can access the Trim Monitor from the Program Monitor, either by clicking Trim in the Program Monitor panel menu or by clicking the Trim button.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Bibleby Adele Droblas Copyright © 2008 by Adele Droblas. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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